Monday
Happy New Year! We kicked off 2018 at the nursery with a polar animal excavation activity - the children were presented with toy penguins frozen in ice, and they had to work out how to set them free. This activity explored ideas of solids and liquids; in the afternoon, we extended this idea by swapping the ice for cornflour and water - this is a non-Newtonian fluid, which turns from fluid to solid when we squish them in our hands! Who says science can't be fun?
Tuesday
We were being musicians today at nursery, with the children experimenting with different tempos and volumes on different instruments. Other children worked on their pen control, and as well as mark-making we encouraged them to form recognisable letters. Elsewhere, the children's fine motor skills and problem solving was challenged with a selection of floor puzzles.
Wednesday
Despite the chilly weather, we were outside today on a mini-beast hunt. The children were fascinated to see the insects up close in our bug catchers, and wanted to learn more about them so we went on the internet to do some research. Also outside was a painting station, were children experimented with colour mixing. Inside, we set up a dinosaur small world play area; some of our children decided that there was something missing, so added cars to the scene... and why not?
Thursday
The children were exploring number and comparison today, using playdough and our "compare bears" - these cute little bears (Daddy Bear, Mummy Bear and Baby Bear) are great for size-grading (big, medium, small), comparison (which is bigger?), counting and sorting. They are even proportionally weighted to use on a balance scale for measurement discoveries. Elsewhere, we had a desert island set up, with lush foliage, wild animals and a pirate ship to play with.
Friday
We had a popular water-play set up today, where the children washed toy babies in the bath and dried them off. One of the children talked about wanting to go shopping with their mother, so in response we set up a mini supermarket in our role play area, with tills, a wooden market filled with different foods, baskets and money. Outside, the fire engine became a bus for the day - which led to a very rousing rendition of 'The Wheels on the Bus'!
